NPR 2011-03-07

In Libya, violent clashes in coastal 1 towns. As NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports, the battles between rebels and pro-government forces have been better.

There's a great deal of anger. There's a great deal of bitter combination. We're seeing the wounded coming back from the front. There's short dripping with blood. We're also seeing [the wounded] towards the frontline saying they will fight till the death.

NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro in Ras Lanuf, Libya.

There have been clashes across Libya. NPR's David Greene is at the Tunisian-Libyan border with details.

Zawiya is about 30 miles west of the capital Tripoli, and it's on the road from Tunisia which is where I am, my vantage point. And it's been a battleground all weekend that the rebels had seemed to hold it early in this uprising against Colonel Gaddafi. But over the last few days, a lot of conflicting reports: The government saying that they had controlled back of the city, showing a footage on state television of their tanks, government tanks in the main square; but rebel forces today saying that city has been so-called liberated 2 again after the rebels have control.

NPR's David Greene in Tunisia at the Vatican today.

"We are confident to yell at the city to pray Allah Libya."

Libya was the focus of Pope Benedict's Sunday Angelus prayer . He expressed concern about the deaths and humanitarian 3 crisis created by the strife 4 in Libya. This was Benedict's first public comment on the fighting there.

The White House chief of staff says the president is considering tapping into the nation's strategic oil reserve to offset 5 high gas prices. NPR's Allison Key tells us this comes days after administration officials had said there was no need to do so.

As recently as Friday, the White House press secretary said it was premature 6 to talk about whether a specific oil price would prompt the president to tap into the 727-million-barrel stockpile. That can be used if there's a major oil shortage, but Chief of Staff Bill Daley tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that the president is very concerned about the spike 7 in oil prices caused by unrest in the Middle East. And the tapping of reserve is one of the options being considered.

"The issue of the reserves is one we're considering. It is something that only is done and has been done in very rare occasions."

The current average price of regular gas in the US is 3.50 a gallon, up from 3.12 just a month ago. Allison Keys, NPR News, Washington.

Spring flooding could well be the result of the winter's unrelenting snow. America's heartland is bracing 8 for it. The National Weather Service says parts of Minnesota and the Dakotas are virtually certain to be inundated 9, and there's a high likelihood of flooding from northern Montana to St. Louis.

An earthquake early today shook a part of northern Chile - 6.2 magnitude, no injuries or major damages reported.

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Last week's Irish election saw that nation's ruling party soundly defeated, but there was no clear winner. As Larry Miller 10 reports from London, it appears the two largest parliamentary parties have now agreed to form a coalition 11 government.

Talks between center-right Fine Gael and center-left Labor 12 led to the two parties agreeing to form the next Irish government with Fine Gael's Enda Kenny Prime Minister. During the election, both parties said they would try to renegotiate the terms of Ireland's $120 billion international bailout to form a coalition. The parties resolved their differences, including had a balanced tax increases in spending cuts and the time frame for reducing the deficit 13. The voters punished the previous government for turning Ireland known as the Celtic Tiger into an economic mess requiring an international rescue. For NPR News, I'm Larry Miller in London.

And Greece authorities are investigating the deaths of three people and several injuries on the southern island of Crete. It's believed they were migrant workers who had jumped a ship, caring those evacuated 14 from Libya. The Merchant Marine 15 Ministry 16 says authorities were checking whether the 31 men mainly from Bangladesh had jumped overboard from two ships that docked earlier in the weekend.

A nationwide program that allows fugitives 17 to safely surrender at churches has been eliminated. A US Marshals Service spokesman tells the Cleveland Plain Dealer 18 the program costs about $0.25 million every year and has fallen to the budget acts. More than 34,000 people and 19 cities have turned themselves in through the program.

I'm Louis Schiavone, NPR News, Washington.